Improvement in fluid-meters



@anni ffil JAMES HARRIS., or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

y Letters Patent N .85,656, dated Jwnua/ry 5, lSl). l

MROVEMENT IN FLUID-METERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making put of the me Figure 3, a transverse section of a meter, provided with my invention.

Figure 4 is an under side view ofthe cylinders, their valve-ports and passages.

' The meter on which my-improvement is based has two cylinders and two pistons, one of such description being exhibited in the UnitedStates patent, No.

13,320, dated July 24, 1855, and granted to Henry R.

Worthington;

Although, like Vthe meter shown in the said patent,

mine has two cylinders, with pistons contained in them, and also has two valves, and certain ports and passages, whereby each piston, during its movements, actuates the valve of the other, yet I make no claim to this principle. My invention consists in a peculiar mechanism for operating, by means of the pressure and action of a column of water, the two pistons and the registershaft, arranged between them and in the meter-case, in mannerv as hereinbefore specified.'

In the d1awin'gs,Aand B denote the two cylinders, arranged side by side, each being made to open latery into a central cylindrical chamber, O, provided with a cap or cover, a.

Each piston has two heads, b c, connected by a short cylinder, d.

Each of the said heads is chambered from its outer end, to receive a cylinder, e, or series'of disks of vulcanized India rubber, or some equivalent elastic medium.

' When the liquid or the water may freeze, its expan- -sion will be allowed to take place, the elastic medium giving way or contracting under the pressureinduced by the expansion of the water, and thereby operating to prevent the water, while so expanding, from bursting the cylinder or cylinders.

An induction-passage, f, leads into the side of one of the cylinders;

Through lthe-"bottom of the chamber C are six ports, g h i k l an, which are arrapged therein in manner as shown in ligsiland 4.

A singlechambered curved or segmentalvalve, n, slides on one series of such ports, there being on the other series a double-chambered valve, o. Longitudinal sections of these valves are represented in iigs. 5 and 6.

Studs p q extend up from the valves, and into holes or slots made in two arms, lr s, which project from two concentric shafts t u, the shorter of which turns as a sleeve eely on the longer.

From these Shafts other arms,v w, project, in opposite directions, into the spaces between the heads of the two pistons. f

The indicating or measuring-train of gearing is to be applied to the longer of the shafts, and to be operated by a pawl or other suitable device or devices, which, through the reciprocating vibratory motion of the shaft, will transmit a continued rotary motion to the train.

The two middle ports, h l, lead downward into a coin-A mon transverse eduction-passage, x.

The other four ports lead down into four separate horizontal passages, y z a' b', arranged as represented. These latter passages, at their outer ends, lead up into the two cylinders.

It will be observed that the passages lastnamed are arranged parallel to each other, and neither of them crosses another, as is the case in the meter of Worthington. My arrangement is sb m'uch better and simpler, as to cause/the water to ow through the passages with much less friction, in consequence of which the meter will operate nndera less head of water.

The valves also operate in circular paths, each being moved by the piston farthest from it, and' by one of the shafts and its arms.

The mode of operation of the pistons and valves by the water, under pressure, may be thus described:

Such water, after entering the induction-passage f, passes into and fills the chamber G; thence it flows down through the ports lm, (supposing such to be open;) thence through the passage z, and up against the end of the piston, over such passage. Next, by its pressnre, it will move the piston in its cylinder B from or near one end of it, to or near the other end of it. In the mean time the piston will be forced against and will move Jdie arm fw, so' as to turn the sl'iai't u, which will move the arm rr and the valve a, so as to open the port g. The water will next rush down through the said port g, thence through the passage a', and up into the cylinder A, and against one head of its pistou. The water will next move the piston-of the cylinder Ain the direction opposite to that in which the other piston, B, was previously moved. In the mean time the valve o will be moved, solas to open the port k. Thence the water will pass through the passage y, and against the first piston, so as" to move it.

During each movement of eachpiston, the water, which will be driven out of its cylinder by cach piston, will escape through one of the eduction-ports h l, which will be opn to admit of such.

Thus, during the movements of the pistons, a reciprocating rotary motion will be imparted to the Shaft a, by which the indicator or measuring-apparatus will be put in action. v

I claim, in the water-meter hereinbefore described, the combination and arrangement of the two shafts t u and their arms lr s c w, the single-chambered valve n, the double-chambered valve o, the Valve-ports g h 'i kl m, andthe passages afb y z, as applied to the plungers c c, and their cylinders and case, as set forth.

JAMES HARRIS.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, SAMUEL N. PIPER. 

